End the death penalty in Ohio

The (Cleveland ) Plain Dealer: Ohio’s depleted stock of death-penalty drugs is yet another reason why Ohio and other states that still execute prisoners should reconsider it on moral, ethical, legal and practical grounds.

A federal court filing earlier this month suggested Ohio will run out of pentobarbital after executing Garfield Heights killer Harry Mitts Jr. on Sept. 25. That means Ohio will need another execution plan for Ronald Phillips of Akron, scheduled to die in November for the rape and murder of a 3-year-old girl.

The Associated Press reports that will be the third time Ohio has had to shift drug execution protocols.

The problem, according to The New York Times, is that many drug makers will no longer supply drugs to prisons to be used in executions. ...

It’s hard to feel sympathy for murderers and rapists. But if the state is going to assume the awesome burden of taking a human life, it better have the best people and the best drugs to do it, and that clearly isn’t happening.

It is time to end the death penalty and the inequities and injustices it fosters, including the impact it has on those who must carry it out, along with all the other practical, moral and ethical problems it engenders.